China and Russia joined Iran on Friday and urged Western sanctions after President Trump called for nuclear interviews with Tehran this week, with both countries condemning the “threat of strength”.
After interviews in Beijing with Deputy Foreign Ministers of Russia and Iran on the discussion of the Iranian nuclear program, the Chinese government said three countries agreed that all parties should “leave sanctions, pressure and threats of strength”.
It seemed to have been a reference to the recent foreplay that Mr. Trump had made against Iran. Mr. Trump said last week that he sent a letter to the Iranian government trying to negotiate an agreement to prevent Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon. However, he warned that the country would have to choose Among the limitation of his rapidly expanding program and his loss in a military attack.
The meeting was the latest symptom of Beijing close harmonization with Moscow and Tehran and its ambition to become a key arbiter of international disputes. At the beginning of this week, three countries organized a joint naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman.
China and Russia are now approaching a very different approach to Iran than ten years ago. In 2015, they insisted that they first achieve an agreement with Iran to stop the nuclear weapons program before the sanctions. Russia even took a lot of Iranian supplies of nuclear fuel as part of this arrangement.
The United States is now following maximum political pressure with the threat of military action. China and Russia, however, follow the cooperative and conciliation approach. This means that the main powers are divided into how to approach Iran, which can provide Tehran maneuvering more diplomatic space.
“Russia and China also signal to other countries that there are alternatives to the American global leadership-that Moscow and Beijing are responsible for global actors who can deal with main global challenges such as nuclear weapons,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, head of the new American security center.
The most applies to the Iranian program is the production of potential nuclear weapons material, which has been enriched by 60 percent of purity, which is almost a bomb. It may take about a week to convert to 90 % cleanliness needed for bombs that produce large nuclear detonations. Experts believe that Iran can now have enough of about six weapons.
Russia and China did not pose a plan to remove or reduce the cleanliness of the Iranian offer of potential nuclear weapons material. Nor did they deal with the Iranian installation of more advanced centrifuges, which increases the size of the supplied material in the ground.
Iranian government said at the end of November That it would start to operate advanced centrifuges to enrich more uranium, which could approach a nuclear weapon.
Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister, published a five -point plan for solving an Iranian nuclear program. He called on the plan to end sanctions against Iran and also called on Iran to “continue to follow his obligation to not develop nuclear weapons”.
Beijing wants to show that “while the United States irresponsibly pulls out of the Iranian nuclear agreement, China is also rapidly adhered to this international commitment and takes responsibility for leadership,” said Shen Dingli, a scholar of international relations in Shanghai.
The message is also solidarity with Iran. “Although the United States is putting extreme pressure, if Iran does not give up its appropriate obligations, it will still have friends,” Shen said. “Iran doesn’t have to worry.” Finally, it is a strategic game between China and the United States. ”
Iranian Supreme Leader last week convicted of “bullying government” And it seemed to be pushing back to the idea of negotiations with the United States.
The support of China and Russia could help Iran look less isolated, but Tehran could also worry.
“The Iranians are very careful on their side with the Chinese, but in particular Russian involvement in negotiations because they fear that Moscow will be sold out in the wider US-Rusk agreement,” he said, ” Gregory BrewHead analyst in the Eurasia group. “They will seek support from Russia while resisting any pressure to give up the requirements of American.”
China has a considerable leverage over Iran: Chinese companies have purchased over 90 percent of Iranian oil exports last year, often at deep discounts for world prices, according to Kpler, a Viennese company that specializes in monitoring Iranian oil shipments. Most other countries have abstained from buying oil from Iran to fulfill the sanctions led by Western, focusing on persuading Iran to stop the development of nuclear weapons.
The sale of the Iranian state oil company to China is about 6 percent of the entire Iranian economy or half of the government expenditure in Iran.
David E. Sanger contributed by reporting from Washington and David Pierson from Beijing.
